With spiritual practice, wrong knowledge gives way to yet-doubtful knowledge. This means there is some actual knowledge regarding Happiness, Identity, & Reality. But this knowledge is not yet steady for it is either a conviction, without direct experience, or a conviction fused with some experience. But still, it is not steady because there remains the need to destroy remaining tendencies to mis-identify.

True Knowledge, however, is that state in which Knowledge is invariable. Also, here knowing & Being are one & the same. At all times, the same Consciousness is the only Knower, even when it appears as an Ego, a dissolving Ego, or as purely Ego-less. This is just like a clear crystal appearing as if endowed with different colors or as transparent, according to the proximity of various colors, or the absence of them. In Truth, all such states & their content are known by the Self, have their apparent existence by the Self, which is free from them & depends on no thought whatsoever to know itself. Even so, all such states & their content do not exist apart from the Self, though the Self itself can never be other than the Knowledge, Being itself.

Regarding the great aphorism (proclamation, mahavakya): “Thou art That”, wise Sages declare that the primary meaning of That is the Absolute Brahman. Likewise, the primary meaning of Thou is the Knower, or "I".

The Non-Dual Teaching of Identity with the Absolute Self, Brahman, is to be practiced by Self-Inquiry, full of clear discrimination, that frees one of the false notion of Do-er-ship, of being a sensing entity, of being an experiencer, of being a thinker, & such. Thus one discerns that the one Self is not the Body, Mind, or Ego, or anything connected with these. Then one knows one’s own true Self to be truly Brahman.

The Knowledge of the Self becomes possible only when the Ego vanishes. What remains is Self-evident, the Self-knowable, the eternally existing, the forever liberated that has never been bound. The Freedom & Happiness of this Realization have no cause or reason. This Freedom & Happiness are self-existing, as Being itself is. Only un-Happiness & Bondage seem to have reasons. By inquiry, these apparent reasons are found to be merely Ignorance.

When the Knowledge that one is the Self, Brahman, is not veiled by certain false notions, the Self-Knowledge becomes firm. Those are the false notions that Reality is something other than the formless, motionless, immutable Self, & that Happiness is other than the blissful Self. Then, the mis-identification of the Self with the Body or any other form becomes impossible.

The direct path of Knowledge is that in which one discriminates as described here, renounces the actions of the Body & the Mind. The direct path of Knowledge frees one from the ideas of being a Performer, Experiencer, Thinker, etc., abides free of outer sensing & inner conceiving activities, & thus know the Self to be That.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:

The ancient Sages gave their instruction in Silence & with Teaching that reveals how “That you are, (tat tvam asi).” Inquiry into this instruction removes all ideas, of what is not the Self, from the Self. This is like the proverbial negation the Analogy’s snake from the rope. Negation of the not-Self is never negation of a reality, but rather a negation of false assumptions or superimposition. If real things would have to be negated, Liberation would be transitory, or not occur at all. For how would it be possible for anything truly existent to go out of existence, or for something to actually change its nature.

Self-Inquiry & negation eliminate only Ignorance & Illusion. All that is objective, & also the Ego, are negated by Self-Inquiry & negation summed up as neti, neti “not this, not this”. Such reveal Being, which is Consciousness, the one Self.

The Ego is ignorantly assumed to be the Self &, thus the Knower. The conception of the Mind determine whether one is endowed with wrong knowledge, doubtful knowledge, or true knowledge. With mis-identification, there is wrong knowledge. Then, what is regarded as knowledge is actually Ignorance. Thereby arises self-caused Delusion regarding Happiness, Identity, & Reality.

With spiritual practice, wrong knowledge gives way to yet-doubtful knowledge. This means there is some actual knowledge regarding Happiness, Identity, & Reality. But this knowledge is not yet steady for it is either a conviction, without direct experience, or a conviction fused with some experience. But still, it is not steady because there remains the need to destroy remaining tendencies to mis-identify.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:

On a path of Self-Knowledge, discrimination signifies the ability to discern what is true & also implies the ability to determine what is false or unreal. By so discerning, or discriminating, one pursues Truth to realize it & destroys the Dream of Illusion or Ignorance. Ignorance creates Suffering. What destroys Ignorance reveals blissful Freedom, or Liberation. Ignorance is destroyed when one discerns that it is, indeed, Ignorance & not the Truth. Ignorance exists & is binding only if one conjures it up & believes it. If, by discrimination, one discerns its un-reality, or false nature, Ignorance no longer binds & ceases to exist.

In the place of Ignorance then, there is found real Knowledge, which is Knowledge of the Reality itself. Just as one, wishing to arrive somewhere, needs first to know where it is that he wishes to go & how to proceed to that place, so too one needs to recognize the place of arrival, which is the highest Truth. One likewise needs to recognize the means to so arrive, which is Knowledge, & also recognize the traveler, which is oneself, & that all these are in the same “place”, of the same essential nature, & are, indeed, the very same Supreme Being.

If the Self would change states, such as states of Ignorance & Knowledge, of Bondage & Liberation, that Self would be destructible, & Liberation itself would be artificial or unreal. Liberation is not a change of state from one state into another state. It is not reasonable to imagine a separation & later union in relation to the Self, for then both would be transitory. Transience cannot be attributed to the Real, just as the unreal cannot be attributed to the Real, or the dual to the Non-Dual. Since there truly can be neither later union nor prior separation, Liberation cannot consist of an Individual entering into Brahman or Brahman coming to the Individual. The True Nature of the Self is never destroyed, is changeless, is uncaused, & cannot be obtained or lost. Any new appearance, or coming into being of any state would be the Effect of a precedent Cause. Such would be changeful, transitory, & not self-existent. Such cannot be permanent Liberation. Self-Knowledge alone is Liberation. Knowing the Self to be oneself is the greatest attainment. To wrongly assume the non-Self to be the Self is Ignorance.

The removal of the superimposed mis-conceptions of what the Self alone is constitutes the path to Liberation. No other view is reasonable, since such always involves some Dualism, some belief in an existent individual experiencer & a self-existent objective thing. There is also then the conception that Reality becomes other than what it is, & that the unreal actually comes to be. Liberation cannot be a change of condition, because such involves mutability & thus destructibility, parts or divisions, & a change in its nature.

Any belief that superimposition occurs on some substrate of non-existence, or that belief that Illusion can actually create itself, or that there is no Absolute Self, all such beliefs should be abandoned. This is because of the existence of Being itself is irrefutable. Furthermore, it is not reasonable that something could come out of “nothing”. Superimposition (in Illusion) occurs on some real thing, & this for “someone” who knows the Ignorance. What is it Ignorance of ? And who knows is the Ignorance for ? If one so inquires, one find that Being alone exists, Consciousness alone exists.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Reality 66

The basic premise of Non-Duality is that the Absolute exists & that the Absolute is identical with oneself. Therefore, Self-Knowledge is equated with the Realization of the Absolute. The basic premise of spiritual practice is that one knows that the Absolute exists & that realizing the Absolute is of utmost importance. This realization is Self-Realization. What is need for this Self-Knowledge, or Realization, is the relinquishment of the assumptions or concepts, that yield the Illusion of Bondage & Suffering. Knowledge of one’s Being, as it is, yields enduring Freedom & Peace. The true Self transcends the limitations of any kind of Individuality, Time, Birth, & Death. The Self is impersonal & is not confined to any Body or Individual.

One’s approach to one’s spirituality, meditation, & this Non-Dual Knowledge is of paramount importance, for the approach very much determines the experience. How one views anything determines how it appears to him. Clarification of one’s understanding of oneself causes one to arrive at Self-Knowledge. To know this as being so, is itself the dawning of that Self-Knowledge. Deep meditation dissolves the Ego, Ignorance, & Bondage of one who ardently meditates. Self-Inquiry within oneself to know oneself reveals the true Self to be limitless Consciousness, Absolute Being, & unconditioned Bliss.

This one’s very Existence. One should continue meditating on the Teaching of Self-Knowledge by the practice of Self-Inquiry until one conclusively realizes the Self & abides without the least trace of Ignorance or Bondage. Listening (shravana), reflection (manana), & deep meditation (nididhyasana) are said to constitute ways of practicing Self-Knowledge. Self-Inquiry: "Who am I ?", knowing oneself free of mis-identification, & steady Abidance as the Self always, these are the inner experiences of listening (shravana), reflection (manana), & deep meditation (nididhyasana).

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Reality 65

Consciousness is self-luminous. By the light of Consciousness, all appears. When Consciousness disappears, Consciousness is still the same. The known has no light of its own. Inquiring, one should trace the Light inward to realize that which is perpetually illuminating. That ever-shining colorless Light illumines the Senses & the Mind, but can never be seen by the Senses, or envisioned by the Mind.

Knowledge, or direct experience of this Light consists of the Identity with that Light. Changeless, blemishless, ever-free, immovable, eternal, bodiless & imperishable, without Ignorance or Knowledge, the Self is of the nature of Consciousness alone.

The negation of attributes & limited definitions of Brahman, as given un such spiritual instructions, must be understood to be the negation of attributes & limited definitions of the Self. If the instructions are to be applied to oneself, those instructions involve the negation of superimpositions, of what is not the Self, upon the Self.

The descriptions of the Self & the negation of attributes & limited definitions of the Self would be meaningless if they referred to some sort of other “Self” different from the aspirant’s own self. Such negations would further clarify that the Self is bodiless, non-sensory, without prana (“life force or energy”), free from thought, etc.

There are not 2 selves in the same one being (apparent person or human being). There is 1 Self, & when known as it is, the Self is known to be Infinite & Eternal, not a limited individual being, but just Non-Dual Being.

To realize this, the Knowledge of oneself as the Self, free from the Body & such, this Knowledge must become as certain & steady as the belief of a human being that he is a human being. No human being doubts this on any occasion.

When that human being determines by Self-Knowledge what, in Truth, that Existence is, that Being exists, then Absolute Being is known. And if that Knowledge is without doubt & without wavering, one has thus known what needs to be known, has experienced what needs to be experienced, & has realized what needs to be realized.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:

Friday, January 26, 2018

Reality 64

The Self alone knows. The which is objective, inclusive of the Ego, can have no knowing power. For all that is objective is not Consciousness itself & is therefore unreal. The objective & unreal cannot know themselves, cannot know each other, & cannot know the Knower. The only Knower is the Self which the unknown Know of all that is known. Though it cannot be known objectively, the Self is nonetheless known in Self-Knowledge devoid of the triads of knowing-knower-known, by the Self itself, which is the Self of the Sages who truly know.

The Self is the true Knower of Knowledge that is referred to in the Upanishad aphorism, tat tvam asi “Thou art That” & not anything else. Anything else would be a mere superimposition on the real Self & would have no such Knowledge. There is no other Knower. This is the all-comprehensive Knower, which is Absolute Consciousness itself, ever-free, homogenous, Non-Dual, & space-like.

This Knower is realized when the illusory objective aspect has been negated. The Knower can never be the known. All that is known is subject to destruction, but the essence of the Knower can never not be.

For Realization of the immortal Bliss of eternal Being, one should know oneself as the Knower alone, which is unalloyed, boundless Consciousness. In knowing the Self truly, one knows that Consciousness is never non-existent & never alters its nature. Consciousness is never an experiencer, never a thinker, never a sensory perceiver, never a performer of action, or an individualized knower since Consciousness is without an Ego.

Thus, one who knows himself truly, knows, “I am without a Body, & I am not engaged in bodily action. I am without Senses, & I am not engaged in any sensing. I do not have speech; & I do not speak. I do not have prana; & I neither live nor die. I do not have a Mind; & I never think. I am not an "I", or an individual being & there is nothing I become.”

Such a Sage need not think that this is so. It is so, & expression have merely been given to these truths to indicate that which actually ineffable & of the nature of silent Knowledge. Since the eternal Self is always of the nature of Consciousness, it is ever without Ignorance. Similarly, the Self is without knowledge conceived as a state or mode of Mind. The Self has no states or phases, & therefore, is beyond both Ignorance & Knowledge. The only true Knowledge is the Self, itself.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Reality 63

In the WakingState, one experiences the Interior & the Exterior, what is sensed & what is thought. In the DreamState, the situation is the same. Both what is sensed & what is thought in both States are not the Self & are unreal. The contents of both what is sensed & what is thought in both Waking & Dream states should not be regarded as defining the Self. When what is sensed & what is thought are falsely associated with the Self, this is superimposition. No activity of the Exterior & the Interior yields Liberation. The activity of an unreal superimposition cannot yield eternal, real Liberation from that unreality.

Liberation is by Knowledge alone & Knowledge is neither sensory nor conceptual in nature. The Self that is realized by such Knowledge has neither Inner nor Outer, but is ever-existent, omnipresent, indivisible, & ineffable.

The true nature of the individual self is actually Brahman. There is only one Self, whether imagined to be individualized, or else realized as it truly is. If one inquires into this apparently individualized self, all that one finds is the Self, which is Brahman. All that is thought to make oneself different from the Self can be relinquished by the Self-Inquiry that negates mis-identification, which is the questioning “Who am I ?” For this reason the Upanshads instruct neti, neti “not this, not this”.

Immortal Liberation is freedom from destruction & fear. The Individual seems as if subject to both destruction & fear. In truth, the Existence that seems to be an Individual is only Brahman. Self-Inquiry negates all that is thought to make the Self differentiated into individuals.

One should meditate on being the Witness & not anything witnessed, whether the witnessed be a known Conception or a known Perception. The entire personal orientation should be utterly abandoned. The Identity & the Reality should be known as the Witness. And all that is witnessed should be known as not the Self & as unreal. The meditator should discriminate more & more finely between the Knower & the Known. Thereby mis-identification ceases. Thereby superimposition of the Known upon the Knower ceases. When the Witness alone remains as one’s Identity, & as Reality, all that there is pure Consciousness which is real Being. It is an "I"–less "I" with nothing else whatsoever. Until the Self is realized firmly, one should discriminate between & cease to mis-identify, inquiring with as “Who am I ?”

Knowledge is “Abidance” (in & as the Self) free from any identification with the Body, the Mind, & the Ego. Delusion is the mistaking of oneself for the Body, the Mind, & the Ego, all of which are objective. Such Delusion veils the Blissful experience of the Self. One cannot have simultaneously the ideas” “I am this, I am like this, or I do this or that” & at the same time have the Knowledge of being the Self. There one ought to persist in Self-Inquiry so that one becomes free of such ideas. This involves the cessation mis-identification with the Body & the Mind. Since Being is not the Body or the Mind, one never does anything. Similarly, Being is never “this” or “like this”, but is only Being.

Ignorance makes one believe that the Mind, which is illumined by Consciousness, is the Self. The Mind’s apparent power of knowing is only the “reflected light” of Consciousness. This is like seeing sunlight play upon a shiny object & thinking that the light seen actually originates from the illumined object. Mistaking the Mind for the Self is like mistaking the reflection in a mirror to actually be one’s actual face. Mistaking the Body for the Self is taking a corpse to be alive & holding it dear, & this is the cause of Suffering. Mistaking the Ego to be the Self is like believing, as fact, the mythological story or someone who was never born. Mis-identification is the cause of confusion. Self-Knowledge is “Self-Abidance” with no false identification with the Ego, Mind, & Body.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:

All the efforts involving mis-identification within the Mind & all the superimposition of experience upon the Self produce only Illusion & not anything real. The Illusion is that of limitation by Form; the Illusion of being a Body, or at a location; the Illusion of perishability; the Illusion of the belief that something destructive of Bliss can exist; the Illusion of differentiation or division into parts, & of connection with actions & their results. The Self is actually all–pervading & space-like, imperishable. The Self is the eternal Bliss itself, Siva, un-differentiated & un-divided, partless, actionless, & free of all karma.

The infinite Self is only one, & nothing other than the Self can belong to the Self.Therefore the Mind cannot belong to the Self. The Self is ever unattached & cannot belong to anything else. Therefore the Self is unaffected by anything done by the Mind. When attachment is present, even as the notion of possession, the possessor, as it were is possessed by the possession. Since the Self is unattached to all, including the Mind, the Self is possessed by none & is not affected by any. If one becomes detached from all things & to one’s own thoughts in the Mind, he finds that what he has reached was the real Self all along. Since there cannot exist a Mind that is something other than the Self which is Infinite & Non-Dual, the Mind cannot have, in Reality, any activity or its results.

Freedom from the Mind is freedom from the fear of loss of Happiness & from the fear of ceasing to exist. This Freedom from desires & the grief of concomitant with desires. Thus, one who knows the Self, free from the Mind, is truly happy. & is solely That which is the same in all beings.

All beings are, by nature, pure Consciousness. Apparent difference from this Consciousness is only illusory appearance due to Ignorance. The illusory difference is removed by comprehending the Knowledge that one is solely Being. Such Knowledge alone is the means to realize immortality, for Being never ceases to be. Nothing else can yield this Realization, for Consciousness is identical with Being. Knowledge is of the nature of Consciousness itself, & there really exists nothing but Being, which is Knowledge or Consciousness.

In relation to all, the Self is the Witness, & being such is attributeless. The Witness is That which never changes, but which knows all the changes – thoughts, modes, & states – of all Minds. The Witness knows all the functions of the Mind in Waking & Dream. In the absence of the Mind’s functions, that is without those 2 states of Waking & Dream, what remains of the Witness is pure Consciousness, which is omnipresent & immutable. This the Self, the true "I" which is free from Ignorance & has no attributeness, no functions, & no qualities, & which is transcendent of all 3 States (waking, dream, deep dreamless sleep). Space-like & never tainted by any of the defects or limitations of the beings that Consciousness indwells, Consciousness alone is the Self.

The Self is free from all notions, forms, & actions. The Self is always 1 – without – a – 2nd. Adi Shankara proclaims that, as long as there is no Self-Knowledge, the identification with the Body & such, & the belief in the authenticity of Sense-Perceptions continue, just as Dreams appear to be true as long as one does not wake up. To spiritually wake up, one must know the Self truly. The Reality of the Self is pure Consciousness with no Duality & with nothing else existing whatsoever. One cannot have simultaneously the Knowledge of the Self along with the idea of oneself as the performer of activity, or an experiencer. For steady unalloyed Knowledge, one should cease such mis-identification.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:

The Self is, by analogy, said by the Wise, to be like sunlight, while the Mind is like a crystal. And the various Experiences are like the colors seen in the crystal. The significance of this analogy is that all objects are seen in the Mind only by the light of the Self. Objects of knowledge, sensed or mental, appear only in the Waking & Dream states. When these Waking & Dream states are not present, no such sensed or mental objects are experienced. Yet the Knower (the Self) is always the Knower, never ceasing, unlike all that is unreal. For the Knower is formless Consciousness. Duality appears only in those Waking & Dream states & is thus likewise unreal. For what is Real must be Real always. By relinquishing the superimposition of the known on the Knower, one then abides as the Non-Dual Knower, unceasing Consciousness, always.

Prior to the discrimination of the Self & the non-Self, one may think that the Absolute does not exist. One may doubt that the Self alone exists. After such discriminating Self-Inquiry, what was thought of as an Individual self is known to be only Brahman. There is no Individual self, or Mind, which would have done such thinking. Upon such Self-Inquiry, the experiential Knowledge is that only the Self. Brahman is, & the Individual & Mind are only Brahman & nothing else.

For the Self, which is of the nature of pure Consciousness, the connection to any objective experience, mental or sensed, is a product of delusion. The "I" is truly free of all attributes, & is not associated with any quality or entity, & is ever non–objective. The Ignorance that imagines otherwise is purposeless. That Ignorance merely creates Bondage among the ever-free, Suffering in the midst of Bliss. This is like drowning in a mirage whose “waters” serve no purpose. If the delusive attempts, to connect the Self with what is not the Self, are given up, the Mind rests in Brahman, the Absolute Self, “as if free from Bondage”, say the Sages. In Reality, that Self was never bound. The Self is ever Unborn & ever free of Duality.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through www.jpstiga.com

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Reality 60

All the objects of knowledge change. All these are described as “mine” & Ego, also cannot illumine themselves, nor can they illumine each other. The Self is different from all that are described as “mine” & Ego. The Self is the unchanging, illuminating Consciousness. This Consciousness is truly one’s only Identity. Therefore, there can never truly be Bondage.

One Non-Dual Self alone is. The one Non-Dual Self is the undivided Consciousness. This is the only Knower in all. There are not different kinds of Knowers, such as higher & lower knowers. The Minds of all are pervaded by the one Consciousness within, which is the Self. This is the "I" of all. So there is no one else who knows, or who does not know. The "I" is truly the Absolute, Brahman, all-knowing & all-pervading.

This "I" pervades & illumines the Mind. And the Mind pervades & illumines all things ever experienced. Thus this "I" is the illuminator & pervader of all. This Self is the Witness of all objectsof the Mind. These mental objects are subtle thoughts & also all the objects conceived as external as well. This includes being the Witness of all other Minds conceived as existing within the Mind. Thus the Self is the Witness of all.

The Mind cannot conceive the Self, yet the Mind has no existence apart from the Self. The Self can neither be accepted nor rejected by any of the Minds. That which cannot be accepted or rejected by the Mind is Brahman. That is truly the "I". Brahman & the Self are One.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through www.jpstiga.com

Just as the Mind becomes the Object, the Instrument or means of Knowing, the Actor, the Action, & the results in a Dream, so is this also the case in the Waking state. The Real Self is different from the Mind & all those things that the Mind becomes (object, instrument of knowing, actor, action, results). The Self is without interior & exterior, such as the Mind & the World. The Self is homogenous Consciousness. Know the Self by ceasing the attribution of anything exterior or interior to the Self. Remembrance & forgetfulness, including remembrance & forgetfulness of the Self, these processes are also, only of the Mind. Both of these processes are products of Ignorance & do not touch the Self. Cease to regard the Self as a known or unknown object. If the Supreme Self is regarded as an object of knowledge, such is a superimposition of Imagination or Ignorance. True Knowledge prevails when such Ignorance, or superimposition, is negated. This is like the case with the rope & the illusion of the snake.

When the conceptions of “me” & “mine” are attributed to the Self, such are manifestations of Ignorance. They are superimpositions upon the Self, which is only One, with neither Individuality nor any experience or thing possessed by an Individual. The “individual self” is thought to be the Seer, Hearer, Thinker, Knower, & such. In Reality, it is Brahman, the imperishable, indivisible, Non-Dual Self. The “individual self” or “I” is not different from the Real Self, which is Brahman.

Meditation on the Self is declared to be without Time, Space, direction, or Causation, since the Self is without these things. The Self itself is to be realized as timeless, & the Realization itself, being of the same nature, is bodiless & without regard to place. The Self itself is, without Causation, being Uncreated & Unborn. And the Realization, being of the same nature, need not wait for circumstance & is not an attempt to produce the Self anew. The Realization is a realizing of what the Self truly is. Le the Mind thus turn within, immersing itself in Self-Inquiry, absorbing itself in Knowledge, thereby losing its own form as it searches inwardly for its source. In this lies great Bliss & Immortality.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through www.jpstiga.com

True Knowledge is not experienced unless the prior ignorant conception is negated, just as the snake notion is destroyed to see the rope. The Self, of the nature of pure Consciousness, is self-existent & can never be negated. Egoism has its origin in Delusion & has for its object that which is only imagined. Its definitions are only thoughts. The discernment of “Not this, not this” negates the very existence of Egoism along with its origin, its effects, & its imagined object.

All qualities, gross (physical) or subtle (mental), ought to be negated from the Self, from one’s Identity. If one is to know the Self as it is, whatever be the qualities attributed to the Self, be they physical or mental, they are to be regarded as mere ornaments. These should not be regarded as the Identity of the one who “wears” those “ornaments” (qualities).

If one rejects all that is objective from one’s Identity, one comes to the conclusion that the Self is the Knower, free from all that is perceived & conceived. In the same manner as one relinquishes mis-identification with the Body, & all that is objective, so should one sever the mis-identification with the supposed subject, which is the Ego.

The Self’s existence is independent of all & is different from all that is objective. The objectified “I” is the Ego. The superimposed objectiveportion of the “I” – consciousness should be abandoned, for it is not actually the Self. Negation of what is objective means also negation of the Ego. What remains is that which is implied in the aphorism: Aham Brahmasmi– “I am Brahman”. Only Brahman can be itself, 1 –without – a – 2nd.That is the only true “I”.

Brahman is Unborn, Immortal, Imperishable, Age-less, & all-comprehensive. The same Absolute Brahman appears, according to one’s understanding, as God, who is said to be the Lord who dispassionately dispenses the results of karma, or as the Witness, which is Consciousness in relation to all else, or the attributeless, eternal “I”, of the nature of the indivisible, non-dual, Being-Consciousness & which alone is without – a – 2nd.

The Self has neither rise nor set, is neither in darkness nor illumined, but is always the spiritual Light, with nothing material or mental in its nature at all. The distinction between the Self & oneself is due only to superimposition, which is like imagining different openings in a castle wall, for instance, to be different spaces, rather than perceiving the castle space itself. The Self is non-dual, 1 – without – a – 2nd. It is neither distinct nor in relation to anything else. For non-dual Existence means there is no other. There is, thus, no difference or non-difference, no oneness or manyness, & no separate knower or doer or experiencer. The Self has nothing to accept or reject. And there is nothing, or no one else to accept or reject the Self. There is no one else to think the Self is, or that the Self is not. Such is the Truth regarding the Self.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through www.jpstiga.com

Bondage is only Ignorance, or error in understanding. One does not attain Self-Knowledge due to Ignorance about the True Nature of the Self & adherence to false conceptions about the Self. The Ignorance makes one feel bound, & the adherence to false notions maintains the Ignorance, yielding the apparent solidity & false continuity of Illusion. Both Ignorance & the tendency to adhere to it are destroyed by Self-Inquiry to know the Truth of the Self.

Sri Shankara declares that just as trees on the bank seem to move when one is in a moving boat, so “transmigratory existence” (life in a Waking World, repeating like nightly dreams, but rather as “physical” Re-incarnation) seems to be true to one who mis–identifies the Self with the Mind.

Thus, when the Mind “moves”, one thinks that the Self (like the stationary trees) “moves”. When the Mind is still, one assumes the Self is still. Because the modifications of the Mind are pervaded by the reflected light of Consciousness, with the qualities of Reality & Identity borrowed from pure Being, one assumes that the Self is identical with the Mind & identifies oneself with those modifications. Thus one imagines, “my thoughts, my state of mind or being, my experiences, etc.” The Mind, or the Ego, is objective, appearing by the light of pure (absolute non-dual)Consciousness alone. Pure Consciousness is the Absolute & is directly realized as existing as such when the “this”, or the objective portion, falsely attributed to it is negated.

Ignorance, or Illusion, is merely a superimposition. By “superimposition” is meant the imagined placement of some attributes, that do not belong to the Self, upon the Self. The basis of the superimposition is real. That basis is pure Existence, pure Consciousness. The superimposed is not a reality in & of itself, but is only a product of Imagination, the result of Ignorance.

It is like the snake imagined to be present when there is only a discarded rope in dim light. The snake is not real & was not really born. But in Imagination, the snake seems to be there, & as long as one is convinced that the snake is there, the true rope is invisible. If one removes that Illusion with the light of Knowledge, he sees the rope alone, as it is, which has been the only reality the entire time. The snake in the analogy represents all that is attributed falsely to the Reality of the Absolute Self, such as the World, the Body, Mind & its conceptions & tendencies, as well as Ego.

The above themes & 2500 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:

What is Real ever is, & what is unreal never is. The great, deep Silence of the Maharshi, & in ancient times, of Dakshinamurti, is a revelation of just that — "the Reality ever is." If we need to explain more: 'The unreal never is." The Silence is indicative, in an overpowering way—overpowering because there is nothing other than it—that there is nothing than it & that there is just one solitary Kaivalyam [aloneness], just one Existence, just one Brahman, or the Real Self

Ideas that "take you out of Meditation" do not "come back", but rather you conjure them up maintain them. You can also take them [the "Meditation-derailing" ideas] down. You lend them their reality. Otherwise, not only would they be of no effect, but they would cease to exist for you. Binding, delusive thoughts would not only not matter, they would cease to exist, if the Mis-identification, which prompted such bewildered ways of thinking, would cease to exist.

If you Mis-identify, you become accustomed to a certain pattern of thinking, a certain tendency, or Vasana [karmic residual Tendency]. If you dis-identify, having cut off the root, where will the rest of the vasana-plant be ? If there is no seed, there is no sprout. If you take away its birthplace, it [Vasana–karmic residual Tendency] will not grow.

What the Maharshi is talking about when he talks about the Pearl Diver who must Dive Deep, down to the root, in the Sea, is to go deep into your Self. Find what you are Mis-identifying with, & Inquire to see if that is Who you really are. When you are reading the scriptures, old texts, & sayings of the Maharshi—some source of deep Wisdom—your Mind is lifted out of all of that, is it not ? Is it just a change of superficial thought or does something else occur ?

Something deeper than just a change of superficial thought occurs. Look in & at the Self, looking as the Self. So, you are looking to the Self, or as the Self or both. There is a depth regarding the nature of your Identity. Later, something [a Vasana–karmic residual Tendency] intervenes. It is not given to you. You conjure it up. It is not by accident. See what it is that you conjure up. Trace it to its root. Dissolve the root by Knowledge. It is not merely your Body becoming active or going about your daily affairs that causes Ignorance. However, the idea that you have daily affairs [& a Body] might be worthwhile questioning, because the "I" that has daily affairs & the "I" you are finding when you are reading Ribhu Gita or reading the Maharshi or reading some other Text or Scripture are not the same "I" are they? Yet, there is only One of you. You are not a plurality. Determine What you are.

The above themes & 2000 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through: